Arcana
by Starrika
Summary: Harry and Lavender bond over scars and sharing flats with amorous roommates. A surprise flirtation that has the possibility of becoming more. A series of drabbles based off the Major and Minor Arcana in the Tarot. Post-DH but pre-epilogue.
1. Prologue: Scars

"I just don't understand. I hate it! Everyone doesn't even _see_ me anymore. Nobody gets it. All they ever do is stare at my scar. Do you understand how hard it is, to have everyone staring at you all the time?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at the girl seated across from him and merely pointed to his forehead.

Lavender flushed and bit her lip before letting out a tiny giggle. "Well. Fine, I guess you _would_ get it." She took a sip of her pint. Resting her chin on her fist, she sobered. "How do you deal with it? I mean, at least people were staring at you for doing something good, something important. And really, your scar isn't that bad. You aren't missing practically half your torso, some of your neck, and a good bit of your face." She trailed off toward the end of her sentence, fingering the edge of her now-customary scarf. She was getting better at glamours and makeup as well – but it still didn't stop the stares.

Harry shrugged, taking a drink of his own pint. "You get used to it. Once people have something better to discuss they will. And you were doing something important, Lavender. Really. If anything, your scars show how brave you were," he said sincerely. He waited until she was taking another sip, then added with a grin, "Plus, the blokes are probably just staring at your rack."

Lavender choked on her ale, coughing until her eyes watered. When she opened her eyes, Harry was still grinning unrepentantly. "You! You've been spending time with the twi- George Weasley," she accused.

"Well, yes. But really, Lav, you're one of the prettiest girls in our year. Most guys aren't noticing a few marks on your face."

Lavender almost raised her fingers to touch her face, then stopped and looked directly at Harry. "You think I'm pretty?" she said with a giggle.

"Oh Merlin, please don't start calling me Harry-Warry."

"That's a low blow!" she said with a true laugh. It was probably the ale, but she felt more relaxed here in the Leaky than she had in a year.

"No one will ever let you live that down. I think Hermione still uses it when she fights with Ron," Harry said with a laugh.

"It seemed cute at the time!" Lavender protested, before laughing into her drink. "I have no excuse. But Parvati had such a good nickname for whatever boy she was dating at the time – and _no_ it wasn't Dean-y-Ween-y," she added.

Harry snorted. "I wish it was," he said with a grin.

The conversation trailed off, and Lavender took another drink of her ale. Off all the possible endings to her day, drinking a pint with Harry was low on the list. She'd wandered into the Leaky after a shift at the travel agency where she had been working, and he'd waved her over. Time – and a lack of Death Eaters – had made him far more open and lighthearted than she would have imagined. That, or working at the twins' shoppe. She'd heard about the lines of girls trying to get into the shoppe when he was rumored to be working. She also knew he'd started working with George after Fred died.

Still – they hadn't been all that friendly at school, and Harry was never the type to spend time with anyone outside his small group of friends. "How's things over at the shoppe?" she asked, trying to get the conversation going again. She felt awkward, as if she were intruding, with her ugly scars reminding him of the battle. He probably wanted to forget. She knew she wanted to, anyway.

"Good," Harry said with a smile. He looked to her glass, almost empty. "Why don't you come see?" he said, impulsively. "It'll be good for a laugh."

Lavender finished her drink and shrugged. "Sure."

He took her hand to pull her through the crowd and out the door, dropping it once they exited the Leaky. "How's Seamus?" he asked.

Lavender wondered where he got his gossip – she and Seamus had broken up two years ago. "Gay," she replied.

He stopped dead in the alley with a cough. "What?"

Lavender grinned. "Kidding!" she said gaily. "He's dating Parvati, didn't you know?" she asked.

Harry shook his head, smiling in response. "No, I didn't. Are you okay with that?"

Lavender laughed a bit. "Harry, you need better gossip. Shay and I – we broke up _years_ ago. I set him up with Parvati. I'm totally fine."

"Ah. Yeah, I guess so," he said, a bit sheepish.

Lavender huffed a bit. "I swear, you're probably trying to get this from Ron or worse, George. I should start organizing some sort of Gryffindor reunion, just so you don't ask Katie Bell the next time you see her about Oliver Wood."

"But, wait. I thought they were married?" Harry said uncertainly.

"They are! But Katie's pregnant and none too happy with Oliver, if you catch my drift," Lavender said conspiratorially. She gestured roundly with her stomach and made a face.

Harry didn't quite look as if he did get it, but refrained from commenting. "I guess I probably am out of the loop," he admitted, reaching the door to the shoppe and pulling his wand. "I mean, I have a loop – it's just a small one. No, not _small_, a perfectly sized loop, thank you," he added.

Lavender laughed and patted him on the arm. "Size doesn't matter, Harry. Really," she said reassuringly, before breaking into another round of giggles.

Harry shot her a dirty look before bringing up the lights in the shoppe. "You're terrible."

"You're just lucky I won't start calling you Tiny Tim," she retorted, popping herself up to sit on the counter. "So, this is the shoppe."

Harry pulled a face at the nickname, but brightened at the mention of the shoppe. "Yes. I wanted to show this new prank – I actually thought of you when we made it," he said.

Lavender raised an eyebrow. "I feel like I should be worried. Or insulted," she said dryly.

Harry laughed as he fished out a small globe from a bin near the register. He came over to her perch and dropped it into her hand. "Take a look into the crystal ball and see your future."

Lavender shot him a dirty look before gazing into the ball. She was regaled with images of shirtless men fanning her on a beach. She laughed and looked back at Harry. "Well, I'd like to know how you managed to divine the future so well," she teased.

He grinned. "I gave you one of the good ones. The others show you being chased by clowns. You could swap it out in Divination and Trelawney would never notice."

"Hey!" Lavender protested halfheartedly. "So where's the globe where you're Minister for Magic with twelve children?" she said slyly, remembering Trelawney's prediction.

Harry looked a bit embarrassed. "Merlin, you remembered that?" he asked, hopping up on the counter next to her.

Lavender grinned a bit smugly. "How could I forget? Put at least a few girls off you, Harry dear. You may be dreamy, but no girl wants to push out twelve children."

"You think I'm dreamy?" Harry said, mimicking her earlier statement at the Leaky. He batted his eyes for effect and Lavender bumped her shoulder against him.

"_You're_ terrible." Lavender lightly tossed the globe back at him, which he caught without looking at it. She wondered why he was working here when he easily be playing Quidditch. Then again, she reckoned he needed a laugh after everything that happened. "So, how many items will be banned at Hogwarts this year?" she asked, trying to fill the air.

"Oh, probably at least thirty. George is the one that comes up with idea. I'm the one who figures out how to actually do them," Harry said. "George is hoping to hit fifty by next year."

"Wait, you figure out how to do them. Are you sure that's not Hermione?" Lavender teased.

Harry smiled. "Well, she does help out some of the time, but that's a state secret," he said conspiratorially.

Lavender laughed. "I bet. How are they? Ron and Hermione, I mean?" she asked.

"Good," Harry said with a shrug. "Dunno, really. I mean, they fight about the same, so I reckon they're good. We share a flat," he explained.

Understanding dawned for Lavender. "Harry, are you not going home because Ron and Hermione are – busy being a couple?" she finished primly, stifling all but one giggle.

Harry flushed. "Uh, no. Not definitively. That I know of. I don't want to know."

Lavender couldn't hold back her laugh. "Poor Harry. You've been _sexiled_," she said, giving him a sympathetic pat on the arm.

"_Sexiled_? Is that even a word?" Harry responded, looking puzzled.

"Did you think _Alohomora_ was a word before you went to Hogwarts?" Lavender retorted. "Trust me, Harry, _sexiled_ is most certainly a word. A made up word, but one that any person who has ever had a roommate would understand."

Harry made a face. "I'd really rather not think of Hermione – or Ron, ever. Doing that," he clarified. "Ugh."

Lavender laughed again. "Well, Harry. When a wizard and a witch love each other very much-"

"Ugh!" Harry said, clapping his hands over his ears. "You're evil."

He slowly removed his hands from his ears when he saw she made no move to speak and was still laughing. "They're like my sister and brother," he said plaintively.

Lavender folded her hands primly in her lap and looked towards the ceiling. "I will not comment, as easy as he makes it for me. I will not comment-"

"Yes, yes, I get the point," Harry interrupted. "We are in the prank shoppe. You're lucky I don't give you a Ton-Tongue Toffee."

"Really, a Ton-Tongue Toffee. That's the best you could do to shut me up?" Lavender responded, rolling her eyes. They hadn't come up with anything better since school?

And then his lips were on hers, pressing close as his hand stole up the back of her neck to tangle in her hair. He broke the kiss more gently than it had begun, looking at her to discern her reaction.

"I – wait, what? I mean, thank you? But what are you doing?" Lavender said, looking bewildered. Harry looked a bit crushed, so she rushed to add, "Never mind, questions later." She grabbed the placket of his shirt, pulling him close again and tentatively kissed him back. Even if this was the twins' shoppe, it felt nothing like a prank.

* * *

><p>AN: This was originally a oneshot entitled "Scars," but I had so much fun playing in this sandbox I had to continue. Consider this a prologue for a series of drabbles based upon cards in the tarot.


	2. Ace of Cups: The Spark

A/N: I had so much fun playing with Lavender and Harry that I had to continue. Prompts are taken from the 78_tarot challenge community on Livejournal. This drabble's prompt was the Ace of Cups, which is basically the spark or start of an emotion. It's a very happy, emotionally charged card.

* * *

><p>He'd walked her back to her flat, out in Muggle London, even though she could have easily apparated. Lavender didn't point that fact out – it was a rare occurrence for blokes to notice her, <em>her<em> and not her scars, no matter what Harry said, so she wasn't about to ruin the fizzy feeling in her stomach that always felt like she'd just eaten ten Fizzing Whiz-Bangs.

They'd spent most of the evening playing with the pranks in the shoppe, with enough breaks for snogging that made Lavender giddy and breathless. She'd not dated anyone since Seamus, who had done his best, but he was only a boy, and ill-equipped to deal with her injuries from the Battle. Her wounds healed far faster than her mind. After that, blokes _stared_. She could hear the whispers, the speculation about her scars.

Harry told her she was pretty – but most men weren't Harry. She'd learned that way back at thirteen, when he faced a dragon, unflinching, in front of the school. She never could have imagined _this_, though. Sure, they'd been friendly, sharing a House all those years, but he'd never looked twice in her direction.

Who knew it took being thrown off the Astronomy Tower to get noticed by a boy?

Lavender quirked a smile and looked over at Harry. "My flat's just another block, we turn right here. Not too far from the Alley, actually."

"My place isn't far from here either," Harry said, taking a look at the street sign to confirm the cross street.

"Really?" Lavender said, curious. "I had no idea."

"Well, I don't exactly fly a banner over the place," Harry said dryly, but smiled to cut some of the bite from his statement.

Lavender smiled in return. "I guess you wouldn't. Still, we should name this section of town Gryffindor corner – Seamus and Parvati are about six blocks from my place, Alicia Spinnet's not far, and I know Dean is somewhere near here as well."

"Ah, I see your loop is superior to mine, yet again," Harry teased.

"You can come to me for all your gossip needs," she said with a laugh.

"I'll keep that in mind."

They were nearing her flat, and she fished her keys out of her bag. She could have opened the door with her wand, but she liked to be cautious when she was out in the street. "This is my place _– Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly_, if you're on the Floo," she said with a smile.

Harry let out a bark of laughter. "You can't be serious."

Lavender grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "You wouldn't believe how many Lavenders and Browns there are on the Floo. All the good names were already taken. But no one ever forgets my Floo!" she said, with a giggle.

"I don't think anyone could forget you," Harry said, with humor.

Lavender tossed her hair, pushing the key into the lock before turning back to look at him. "I should hope not!" she said. Now that she was home, he was hanging back awkwardly, almost unsure if those hours in the shoppe had happened. Lavender reached out to grab him by the shirt again, pulling him against her for another snog.

When they broke apart, she giggled at his glasses, askew on his nose, and reached up to straighten them. "There. Now, I expect you to Floo me," she said, sounding far more confident than she felt. He wasn't having second thoughts because of her face, was he?

He grinned. "Only if I can get Ron and Hermione out of the room first. I'm not saying that out loud," he told her.

Lavender mock-pouted. "Well, then I guess you'll have to come over, _neighbor_. I may even lend you a cup of sugar!" she said, before kissing him one last time and tripping into her flat. "Night, Harry!" she said as she shut the door.

Another low laugh was her only response.


End file.
